University Of Southern CaliforniaMarshall School Of BusinessMOR 385

Business in a Diverse SocietySpring 2010Instructor: Prof. Paul S. AdlerOffice: HOH 716Tel: 213-74-0748Email: padler@usc.eduOffice hours: by appointmentClass-time: M-W 2:00-3:50pmPrerequisites: NoneVersion date: Jan 7, 2010

Course goals and objectives Some students are looking for solutions to ethical and social issues in

business. Perhaps you want to “change the world through business,” like it says in the Net Impact mission statement. Perhaps you want to work for a non-profit and change the world that way. Perhaps, more modestly, you want to avoid doing harm to the world. Or perhaps, even more simply, you want to avoid behaving unethically.

Other students are not particularly concerned about these issues, but realize that ethical and social issues will imposed on them in their work lives. Business is under growing pressures from legislators, regulators, social movements, community groups, and unions; from an increasingly diverse workforce with new expectations of work; and from intensifying societal demands for ethical integrity. And all these pressures are magnified and complicated by the greater global span of business organizations.

In attempting to resolve these issues, you will find yourself enmeshed in difficult debates. Many of these debates will be about whether business leaders should step beyond their shareholder-wealth-maximizing roles to protect also the interests of other stakeholders — employees, communities, the natural environment, suppliers, etc. Others will be about whether business really can help the world solve its problems, or whether these problems need to find their solutions elsewhere — in government or in social movements, for example.

At the core of these debates, and making them peculiarly difficult, there are competing points of view about what we call the “political-economy of business” — about the way economic and political forces interact in shaping the context and conduct of business. Indeed, in these debates, we typically encounter several competing perspectives — perspectives that differ radically in their value presuppositions and in their recommendations. And we typically encounter conflicting pressures — pressures from stakeholders whose understandings and actions are oriented by these competing perspectives, and who, as a result, advocate radically different policies.

The theory underlying this course is that the main questions at stake in these issues and debates involve both facts and values, and that as a result, there is no theory that can reliably lead us to objectively correct or optimal conclusions. The principle goal of this course is to prepare you to deal with this challenge by giving you an opportunity to explore these competing views in depth and to work out your own position on them. The course will enable you to think more rigorously about these issues and to advance more cogent arguments for your position.

Given this theory of the course, my specific teaching objectives are: to help you understand the main competing points of view in political economy; to help you see the main issues through the eyes of a broader set of stakeholders; to understand how these diverse stakeholders interact in shaping the role and conduct of business in society; and to give you the relevant conceptual tools, personal skills, and basic domain knowledge you will need to deal with these issues in your professional and personal life.

Who should take this course?The course is designed primarily for students planning careers in

business. It will also be of interest to students with career goals outside business, in roles where they will need to interact with business organizations, such as in public sector agencies, non-profits, or activist movements. And it will help prepare students for their lives as citizens where these political-economy issues are often under debate. A broad mix of goals and views among students in the class stimulates discussion.

This course fulfills USC’s Diversity Requirement by addressing four forms of difference: class, race, nationality, and gender; of these, class will be the main focus. Class refers to social groups differentiated by their relative control over key economic resources and by the resulting differences in life chances. Students will learn how class and other forms of difference affect and are affected by the practices and structures of contemporary business. They will learn how business as an institution in our society overcomes some differences but reproduces and exacerbates others, and also how the resulting inequities can be combated by people within management and in the various stakeholder groups that influence management.

Course outcomesFor the student, the key outcomes will be:

(a) mastering key conceptual tools: the various competing theories in political-economy;(b) developing key skills:

strategic analysis expanded to encompass political as well as economic factors;

thinking clearly about ambiguous, complex problems; making compelling arguments, oral and written;

(c) familiarizing yourself with key problem domains: at various levels of analysis: global/societal, industry, firm, individual, in various industry settings, as seen by diverse stakeholders.

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Course materials Course reader at Bookstore Books to purchase:

M. Friedman, R. Friedman, Free to Choose, Harvest 1990 E. Mandel, An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory, Pathfinder 1974

Readings posted on Blackboard

Class processMost class sessions will be devoted to facilitated discussion of cases and

assigned readings. As shown in the Schedule below, most of the weeks of the semester will treated as distinct topic-units, and you will be expected to come to class on Monday having read all the materials for both the Monday and Wednesday classes that week and prepared to offer your analysis and recommendations for the case in light of the readings.

Case discussions will usually begin with short oral presentations by one or two student teams, presenting as if they were consultants and the rest of the class were the client in the case and representatives of other relevant stakeholder groups. We then open the discussion to the class as a whole. As a group, we will try to build a complete analysis of the situation and address the problems and issues it presents in light of the readings. Some class time will be devoted to discussion of readings rather than cases: this will take the form of a facilitated discussion rather than a lecture. The following paragraphs elaborate.

Preparing for class (1): CasesThe detailed Session Descriptions below give more specific “study

questions” for the case discussions. However, these study questions are only prompts to get you going, not an agenda for your analysis or for our discussion. It is for you to identify the specific issues posed by the case and to decide how they can be best addressed. I will expect you to consider the case in the light of all the assigned readings, and to come to each class prepared to present and defend your own analysis. I will sometimes “cold call.”

The basic challenges for case analyses are always essentially the same:1. Who are the main stakeholders involved here and what are their concerns and interests? What do the competing views in political-economy suggest will be the key issues here?2. Focusing on one stakeholder as your client, what is the challenge they face, and what is the root issue they must resolve in order to deal with this challenge?3. What alternative strategies for resolving this issue should your client consider? Which of these alternatives do you recommend, and why is it superior to the others?4. What implementation issues should your client anticipate and how do you think they should address them?

I encourage you to meet in teams to prepare these case discussions. You should try to schedule a regular time for your team to meet prior to each case discussion class to share ideas and formulate a deeper analysis of the case

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issues. Your learning from this course will be greatly augmented by such team preparation.

Preparing for class (2): Theme readingsAlongside the case, I have assigned a set of readings for each theme. The

readings aim to give students starting points in reflecting on how the competing viewpoints in political-economy and the diverse stakeholders will interpret the issues at stake in the case. Student teams will prepare for the class a “Background briefing” on these readings (see below), and post their Briefing on Blackboard by midnight Wednesday of the prior week.

I will assume that you will come to class having read all the assigned readings and the Background Briefing. I will not waste your time by simply repeating in class what you have already read; my goal is to add value to your efforts by helping you reach a deeper level of comprehension. I may ask individuals or teams to prepare short presentations to the class on the key points of the readings. I will also cold-call students in the class to summarize the key points they noted in their own reading, or to comment on potential applications. To be sure you are ready for such discussion, ask yourself:

What is the basic argument the author makes? What are the key concepts and principles informing their analysis? How does this argument differ from competing alternative arguments? Where do you stand on the focal issue, and why?

Team reports At the beginning of the semester, students will form into teams (three

people maximum), and each team will do two reports over the course of the semester. As explained above, you should think of these reports as if they were by a group of outside consultants (your team) reporting to your client. I leave it to you to select the client you would most like to work for. Detailed guidance on these reports is in the Appendix: Guidelines For Team Reports. They will be graded using the criteria shown in the Appendix: Grading Case Analyses.

These reports have two components:(a) Background briefing: here your team aims to summarize the competing views on the topic at hand. You should rely on the assigned readings, but you can also supplement these with other readings you identify through your own research. (I will point you to some web sites that you might find useful for this purpose.) You need to post your Briefing on Blackboard by midnight Wednesday of the prior week. (b) Client presentation: here your team presents your analysis and recommendation to the class. You do not need to post this in advance, but you do need to bring along handouts of your slides for the class.

I have found that these reports and the discipline you will learn by doing them are one of the things about this course that students find most valuable. Your professional career depends crucially on the skills these reports rely on — your ability to reason your way through the maze of considerations to get to the heart of the matter, and your ability to communicate complex arguments effectively.

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To ensure maximum value from the work you invest in the preparation of these reports, I will meet with each presenting team as soon as possible after class for 60 minutes, to discuss their report’s strengths and weaknesses, and to brainstorm how their report could be strengthened. After the meeting, I will send you and the class further feedback.

Note: As concerns the grading of the oral delivery, I will not penalize people for language difficulties when their first language is other than English.

Note also: Since these reports require considerable teamwork, and since teamwork is an important skill in management and in life, students will conduct peer evaluations of their team members after their each team report (see Peer Evaluation Form appended). The first is to encourage your team to address any “team process” issues; the second will count towards your final grade.

EngagementActive engagement is a key part of learning in this course. Your

engagement grade will reflect: (a) your pre-class contributions of “discussion issues” on the readings and cases, (b) your in-class contributions to discussions, and (c) your after-class contribution of “take-aways” on what you have read and heard. Grading for these three components is described in the Appendix: Grading Engagement. To elaborate on my expectations:(a) Pre-class: I would like you to share your initial responses to the cases and assigned readings before you get to class. To this end, you need to prepare one “discussion issue” (DI) for each week’s topic, starting with the week of Jan 25. Your DI should aim to identify in 5-15 lines a key issue that you think needs to be resolved in the upcoming week. Please post your DI on Blackboard no later than 8:00pm Sunday: I will not be able to read questions submitted after that deadline. (b) In-class: As in many of your other classes, your active participation in the class discussion is a crucial part of the learning process: your contributions help both you and the rest of the class. Since during class I may cold call on students at any time, please avoid embarrassment by telling me before class if you are not prepared. And if you are uncomfortable with class participation, please let me know at the beginning of term and I will work with you to help you overcome this barrier. (c) After-class: In a case-oriented, discussion-based class such as this, much of the learning happens after class, as the “dust settles” and the key “take-away” lessons (TAs) become clear. By 8pm the night before the next class, I would like you post a short note with your TAs (5-15 lines, or longer if you like) on our Blackboard Discussion space. These TA postings might also include responses to other TAs already on the Discussion space.

Individual written case analysesOver the course of the term, each student will need to do two individual

written case analyses. You can choose any two cases in our syllabus, apart from the two on which you will be doing team reports. In their form, these analyses should follow the Guidelines for Individual Written Case Analysis in the Appendix. In their substance, these written cases analysis should follow the same Guidelines as the Team reports – except that no Background Briefing is required. They will be graded using the same Grading case analyses criteria.

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They must be emailed to me before the week’s Monday class or handed in at the beginning of that class session. You may do more than two of these, and I will count the best two grades towards the course grade.

Please note: these are individual assignments, and I expect you to respect USC’s corresponding Academic Integrity standards and Marshall’s Honor Code. You may discuss the cases with your colleagues, but the write-ups must be your own individual work.

“This I Believe”In 2005, National Public Radio brought back the “This I Believe” radio

series that first broadcast in the 1950s. The new series recently ended, but the website continues. The course culminates by having each student write a 500-word essay for the series. This assignment asks you to articulate crisply and compellingly your fundamental beliefs as they pertain to the broad domain of the course.

Obviously, I hope that our time together will inform what you have to say; however, your essay will not be about the course per se. Rather, it is about you. It is also about what you are willing to stand up in public and say about yourself: so I would like you to submit your essay to the This I Believe website. You can either submit it to the site when you submit it to me or you can wait for some feedback from me and then send it in to the site. Either way, I would like you to share your beliefs with the world.

This is due by the beginning of class on April 26. It should be posted on our Blackboard Discussion space, and you should take time to read those of your colleagues in the class in time to discuss them all together in class on April 28.

Here is the link to website and your instructions for writing the essay: http://thisibelieve.org/. You can find many other people’s essays on the site: they might inspire you.

Final assignmentIn lieu of a final exam, each student must submit a final paper due at the

time the exam is scheduled to start. Details will be announced later.

GradingThe components of the final course grade will be weighted as follows:

Component Weight

1st team report 20%

2nd team report 30%

Class engagement (5% for each of 3 components)

15%

Individual written case analyses (2 x 10% =) 20%

“This I Believe” 5%

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Final written assignment 10%

Total 100%

Class attendance Class attendance is essential to your learning in this course. Each

student is allowed two absences, no questions asked. All further absences over that limit will reduce the student's course grade, at the rate of one-third a letter grade for every further absence. Students with an excessive number of absences are therefore at risk of failing the course. Only official university engagements, such as scheduled debating or sports events are exempted. Job interviews, etc., are not excused, so choose your absences carefully.

Class representativeYou will be asked to elect a Class Representative during our third

session. The student representative will act as a liaison between students and myself, to provide informal feedback and communication, particularly on issues that individual students may not wish to raise personally with the instructor.

Classroom etiquetteAn atmosphere of mutual respect is in order. So please... arrive at class on time: late arrivals are disruptive to your fellow classmates

and to the conduct of the class; avoid leaving the classroom while the class is in progress: biology has its

imperatives of course, but our class is a collective conversation of which you are an integral part;

turn off your cell phones before you enter the classroom; do not engage in side conversations during class; do not pack up and leave towards the end of the class until it is clear the

class is over.

Academic integrityThe following information on academic integrity, dishonesty, and the

grading standard are placed here at the recommendation of the School of Business Administration Faculty and are taken from the Faculty Handbook:

“The University, as an instrument of learning, is predicated on the existence of an environment of integrity. As members of the academic community, faculty, students, and administrative officials share the responsibility for maintaining this environment. Faculty have the primary responsibility for establishing and maintaining an atmosphere and attitude of academic integrity such that the enterprise may flourish in an open and honest way. Students share this responsibility for maintaining standards of academic performance and classroom behavior conducive to the learning process. Administrative officials are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of procedures to support and enforce those academic standards. Thus, the entire University community bears the responsibility for maintaining an environment of integrity and for taking appropriate

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action to sanction individuals involved in any violation. When there is a clear indication that such individuals are unwilling or unable to support these standards, they should not be allowed to remain in the University.” (Faculty Handbook, 1994: 20)

Academic dishonesty includes: (Faculty Handbook, 1994: 21-22) Fabrication - any intentional falsification or invention of data or citation in an

academic exercise will be considered a violation of academic integrity. Plagiarism - the appropriation and subsequent passing off of another’s ideas

or words as one’s own. If the words or ideas of another are used, acknowledgment of the original source must be made through recognized referencing practices.

Other types of academic dishonesty - submitting a paper written by or obtained from another, using a paper or essay in more than one class without the teacher’s express permission, obtaining a copy of an examination in advance without the knowledge and consent of the teacher, changing academic records outside of normal procedures and/or petitions, using another person to complete homework assignments or take-home exams without the knowledge or consent of the teacher.

Students with disabilitiesAny student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability

is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to the instructor as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. The phone number of DSP is (213) 740-0776Returning coursework

Returned paperwork, unclaimed by a student, will be discarded after 4 weeks and hence, will not be available should a grade appeal be pursued following receipt of his/her grade.

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COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Theme CaseINTRODUCTION

Mon Jan 11 What is a life worth? Ford PintoWeds Jan 13 The contested place of

business in societyFOUNDATIONS

Weds Jan 20 Values and perspectives in political-economy

Jan 25, 27 Political-economy: Market fundamentalism and regulated capitalism

Global climate change and BP

Feb 1, 3 Political-economy: Socialism

Inequality and the “American Model”

Feb 8, 10 Political-economy: Ethical capitalism

AIDS in Africa

Weds Feb 17

Review

STAKEHOLDERS/DOMAINSFeb 22, 24 Investors Sustainable development and

socially responsible investing: ABB in 2000

Mar 1, 3 Government Fuel economy standards 2007Mar 8, 10 Environment Wal-Mart’s sustainability strategyMar 22, 24 Customers Obesity and McLawsuitsMar 29, 31 Suppliers Charles Veillon (A)April 5, 7 Employees Deloitte & ToucheApril 12, 14 Unions La Conexion FamiliarApril 19, 21 Activist organizations The Rainforest Action NetworkApril 26, 28 You Martha McCaskey

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SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

INTRODUCTION

Mon Jan 11: What is a life worth?Case: Ford Pinto Study questions:

1.Who has a “stake” in Ford’s decision to retain or modify its Pinto fuel tank design?

2.How would each of these stakeholders evaluate Ford’s conduct?3.What should be done to avoid these tragedies in the future?

Weds Jan 13: The contested place of business in societyAssigned readings:

M. Friedman: “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits,” New York Times Magazine, Sept 13, 1970

C. Handy, “What’s a business for?” HBR Dec 2002 D. Doane, “The myth of CSR,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall

2005 J. D. Margolis and H. A. Elfenbein, “Do well by doing good? Don’t count

on it,” HBR Jan 2008Study questions:

1. In your view, should corporations attempt to take on social responsibilities beyond those to their investors and the law? How do you respond to the arguments against your position?

FOUNDATIONS

Weds Jan 20: Values and perspectives No preparation required

Jan 25, 27: Political-economy: market fundamentalism and regulated capitalismCase: Global climate change and BP (HBS 9-708-026, rev. May 2008)Assigned readings:

M. Friedman and R. Friedman, Free to Choose, Chs 1,2,5,7,8 F. A. Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society, American Economic

Review, 35, 4, 1945: 519-30. N. Goodwin, “The limitations of markets: Background essay,” Global

Development and Environment Institute, Tufts Univ. 2005Study questions:

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1.Why did Browne undertake his unilateral initiatives in the late 1990s?2.How will other oil firms react?3.What should we do about global climate change? What do you think is the

proper role of government? Of business?

Feb 1, 3: Political-economy: socialismCase: Inequality and the “American model” (HBS 9-703-025, rev, March 2006)Assigned readings:

E. Mandel, An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory K. Kelly, “The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming

Online,” Wired, 5.22.09Study questions:

1. Should we be concerned about inequality? 2. What causes inequality? What is business’s role in creating inequality?3. What do you think we should do about rising inequality in the USA? 4. Is socialism the answer? Is it possible? Inevitable??

Feb 8, 10: Political-economy: Ethical capitalismCase: Life, death, and property rights: The pharmaceutical industry faces AIDS in Africa (HBS 702-049) Assigned readings:

Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981 T. Donaldson and L.E. Preston, “The Stakeholder Theory of the

Corporation: Concepts, Evidence and Implications,” Academy of Management Review, 20, 1, 1995

A. Sen, “Does business ethics make economic sense?” Business Ethics Quarterly, 1993

Study questions:1.What solutions to the AIDS crisis would you argue for as a representative

of Doctors without Borders? The South African Health Ministry? A Brazilian pharmaceutical company? The WHO? Pfizer?

2.Do you think it is realistic to expect that more ethical behavior by business can address problems such as AIDS effectively enough? If not, what will?

Weds Feb 17: ReviewReadings TBD

STAKEHOLDERS/DOMAINS

Feb 22, 24: InvestorsCase: Sustainable development and socially responsible investing: ABB in 2000

(HBS 701-082)

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Assigned reading: When investing and social objectives meet (HBS 106-043) Social Investment Forum, 2007 Report on Socially Responsible Investing

Trends in the United States, Washington DC J. Entine, “The myth of social investing,” Organization and Environment,

16, 3, 2003Study questions:

1. The Introduction to the case identifies three issues that Stromblad is struggling with. What are the competing views in contention in these three debates?

2. What position would you recommend to Stromblad on these three issues? 3. What criteria do you think managers of SRI funds should use in evaluating

firms like ABB?4. How far do you think socially responsible investing can or should go in

remedying the world’s ills?

March 1, 3: GovernmentCase: Fuel economy standards 2007 (Stanford P-58)Assigned readings:

Note on lobbying (HBS 707-471) Public policy and the manager: Conceptual framework (HBS 9-794-028) W. Domhoff: Who rules America?

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/who_has_the_power.html

W. Domhoff: Alternative theoretical views, http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/theory/alternative_theories.html

T.C. Korologos, “In defense of lobbyists,” WSJ 2008Study questions:

1. What objectives should the Big Three pursue? Can they stop the 35 mpg standard? Should they try?

2. Do you think business has too much power over public policy in the USA today? If so, what should be done about it?

March 8, 10: EnvironmentCase: Wal-Mart’s sustainability strategy (Stanford OIT-71)Assigned readings:

Terrachoice Environmental Marketing Inc.: “The six sins of greenwashing,” 2007

J. Shanahan, “The conservative as environmentalist,” Heritage, 1991 J.B. Foster, “Ecology and the transition from capitalism to socialism,”

Monthly Review, 2008 B. Elgin, “Little green lies,” Business Week Oct 29, 2007

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Wal-MartWatch: Sustaining Wal-Mart, 2007Study questions:

1. Given the fact that Wal-Mart’s customers generally are unwilling to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products, how is the company deriving business value from its sustainability strategy, or if not, how can it ensure that it does in the future?

2. Imagine that you are Andy Ruben or Tyler Elm, evaluating the progress of the electronics, seafood, and textiles networks. Which networks have been most successful? What explains the success or lack of it in these networks?

3. How is Wal-Mart motivating its suppliers to continuously reduce the environmental impacts of their products and process, and to share information about how they do that? How can the company stimulate the development of disruptive, breakthrough innovations?

4. As evidenced by Ex 12, Wal-Mart’s sustainability strategy has generally been very profitable. However, two initiatives described in the case benefit society and the environment while apparently reduced Wal-Mart’s profits. Identify those two initiatives and imagine that you are their internal champion. How do you propose to justify pursuing those initiatives?

5. What position should environmental activists take in relation to Wal-Mart now, at the time of the case?

6. How can we best assure businesses’ respect for the environment? What do you think is the proper role of competition, regulation, ethics, and systemic change?

March 22, 24: CustomersCase: Obesity and McLawsuits (Stanford P-49)Assigned readings:

G. Ruskin and J. Schor, “Junk food nation,” The Nation, Aug 29, 2005 G.T. Woodward, Summary of CBO report: The economics of US tort

liability: A Primer, 2003 P.H. Rubin, “Tort reform saves lives,” American Enterprise Institute, 2005 D. Zegart, “The right wing’s drive for ‘tort reform,’” The Nation, Oct 7,

2004 J.C. Lane, “The myth of the frivolous law suit,” www.corpreform.com

Study questions:1. Given current US tort law, assess the likelihood of a plaintiff prevailing

against McDonald’s on an obesity lawsuit. (Find information about the law of torts through some web research: Wikipedia is a good place to start.)

2. What economic and political strategies should McDonald’s use to address the obesity issues?

3. What strategies should advocates of public health in general and of children’s health in particular pursue in relation to McDonald’s?

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4. How can consumers best be protected from possible harms caused by the products they buy? What should be the role of law suits in this process? How else can consumers’ make their concerns heard loudly enough?

March 29, 31: SuppliersCase: Charles Veillon (A) (HBS 307-002)Assigned readings:

Inequality and globalization (HBS 705-040) I. Maitland, “The great non-debate over international sweatshops,” British

Academy of Management Proceedings, 1997 M. Yates, “Poverty and inequality in the global economy,” Monthly Review,

2004 J.E. Stiglitz, “The overselling of globalization,” in Globalization: What's

New, edited by Michael M. Weinstein, Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 228-261.

L. J. Bivens, “Globalization and American wages,” Economic Policy Institute, 2007

Study questions:1. Did Zwahlen terminate relations with existing carpet suppliers too

quickly?2. To what extent if any is the use of child labor and other supplier practices

the responsibility of Zwahlen and his company?3. As Zwahlen, what if any further action would you take regarding child

labor and supplier work practices?4. If Zwahlen decides to take further action, would you recommend that

Veillon act unilaterally or that it collaborate with others? If the latter, what kind of collaboration would you recommend?

5. Should Jacques Zwahlen accept the invitation to appear on French television?

6. Does the globalization of supply chains help the poor? In your view, what is the best path for the world’s poor out of poverty?

April 5,7: EmployeesCase: Deloitte & Touche: Changing the workplace (B) (HBS 9-300-013)Assigned readings:

D. Walker, “Feminism and free markets: Friends or foes?” Heritage Foundation, 1992

S.J. Rose and H.I. Hartmann, “Still a man’s labor market,” Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2004

B. Welle, M.E. Heilman, “Formal and informal discrimination against women at work: The role of gender stereotypes,” Kennedy School of Govt, 2005

F. Dobbin, A. Kalev, and E. Kelly, “Diversity management in corporate America,” Contexts, Fall 2007

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Study questions:1. What were the factors accounting for Deloitte & Touche’s poor track

record with women’s careers?2. What explains the progress they have made?3. What should Copeland do now?  4. What should women at Deloitte & Touche do now?5. Is the gender “wage gap” in the USA today a problem or is it the natural

result of free choices? What, if anything, should be done about it?

April 12, 14: UnionsCase: Sprint: La Conexion Familiar (A) (Ivey 9A97C001)Assigned readings:

AFL-CO Issue brief: The silent war: The assault on workers’ freedom to choose a union and bargain collectively in the United States, 2005

J. Sherk, “What Unions Do: How Labor Unions Affect Jobs and the Economy,” Heritage, 2009

J. Pfeffer, “In praise of organized labor: What unions really do,” Ch. 26 in What were they thinking? Unconventional wisdom about management, Harvard Business School Press, 2007

Study questions:1. What is the problem that Sprint faces?2. What should Sprint management do? What implications will this decision

have on the future of its long distance service market?3. How important is the Communications Workers of America’s potential

reaction to any decision Sprint makes?4. Is there a role for unions in the USA today?

April 19, 21: Activist organizationsCase: Anatomy of a corporate campaign: Rainforest Action Network and

Citigroup (A, B) (Stanford P-42A, P-42B)Assigned readings:

D. Spar, L. T. La Mur, “The power of activism: Assessing the impact of NGOs on global business,” California Management Review Spring 2003

D. Hogberg, “The Rainforest Action Network,” Capital Research Center, May 2005

Franz Nuscheler, “NGO Scene in the Twilight Zone: Is the Honeymoon over?” D+C Development and Cooperation, No. 6, November/December 2001, p. 8 – 13

Study questions:1. Was it strategically wise for RAN to launch a campaign on project

finance? Can RAN realistically expect to affect project finance, which is provided by banks around the world?

2. Was Citigroup a good or bad target for RAN? Why not focus on project contractors themselves?

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3. At the end of the B case, what should Citigroup do?4. If Citibank agrees to negotiate an agreement with RAN, what should RAN

agree to? What should it not agree to?5. What should we make of RAN's tactics? Is this "democracy in the

marketplace"?6. What role do activist organizations like RAN play in our society? How best

can they advance the causes they espouse?

Mon April 26: YouCase: Martha McCaskey (HBS 403-114)Assigned readings:

An introduction to patents and trade secrets (HBS 9-295-062) Note on human behavior: Character and situation (HBS 9-404-091) David Luban, Alan Strudler, and David Wasserman: “Moral Responsibility

in the Age of Bureaucracy.” Michigan Law Review, Aug 1992Study questions:

1. What should Martha do?

Weds April 28: You (cont’d): “This I believe”Assignment: Submit and post your “This I believe” assignment before class April 26, and read everyone else’s before class today.Study questions:

1. What are your responses to everyone else’s “This I Believe” statement?

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Guidelines For Team Reports[Note: Essentially the same guidelines apply to your Individual written case analyses, except that the latter do not require the Background briefing.]

Think of these as consultant reports. Imagine that you have been given a chance to study the focal organization and to come up with a diagnosis and a set of recommendations. So let’s first set the stage: * Make sure you explicitly identify a specific client, since your action recommendations will need to be ones that this client can implement. * In this course, you have some latitude in choosing your client: even if the case is written from the point of view of a given firm, you might choose to take as your client one of its stakeholders. However, in choosing your client, make sure the case and associated readings provide you with enough material. * The issues to be resolved may not be obvious; but this is also true of many real-world situations. The case questions in the session descriptions are offered only to get your thinking going — they are not an agenda for your analysis.           

The report itself has two main parts: “Background briefing” and “Client presentation.”1. Background briefing

The first part of your report will consists of a short (2-3 page) summary of the competing points of view on the broad topic under discussion. You should rely on the assigned readings, but you can also supplement these with other readings you identify through your own research. (I will point you to some web sites that you might find useful for this purpose.) You need to post your summary and of each of the four readings on Blackboard by midnight Wednesday of the prior week.2. Client presentation

The second part of your report is a presentation to your client of your case analysis and recommendation. You will make this presentation to the class, but you should think of the class as if we were the client and his/her leadership team (do keep in mind that representatives of other stakeholder groups may attend!). Therefore, in making this presentation, you should not waste time repeating the case facts that would be known to these folks. (In real engagements, you might review these case facts to establish common ground and to buttress your credibility; but in class, that won’t be necessary.)

Your presentations should include the following elements:First, one of the most challenging parts of the assignment: you need a

single summary slide on which you succinctly state (a) the challenge facing the client organization, (b) the root issue that makes it difficult to meet this challenge successfully, and (c) your key recommendation. Imagine that your client has to cut short the meeting due to an emergency: you will want one slide on which to summarize your “take away” message – this is it. Such a summary is very hard to do; but it will force you to distill your analysis, and that will help you prioritize and shape the rest of the presentation.

Second, you should lay out an overview of your presentation — the agenda. This slide should tell us what areas you will address in what order. It will be much more impactful if simultaneously you can summarize in a short

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phrase the key lesson of each of these parts of the presentation. In this way, it can lay out the substantive logic of your argument.

Third comes the body of the report. Here you should start by identifying the key challenge facing the client. The challenge is the problem to be revolved. To make a compelling argument as to the nature of the challenge, a stakeholder analysis is usually helpful. Stakeholders are any groups affected by the issue: some stakeholders may not be obvious at first sight -- they may be far “downstream” or far “upstream.” You need to ask yourself: Who are the parties affected here? What rights or interests or concerns of theirs are involved? What is the nature of the client organization’s economic and political relations to these stakeholders?

Having identified the challenge, your next task is to “peel the onion” another few layers to identify the root issue facing the client. The root issue is the factor that makes it difficult for the organization to resolve its challenge successfully. Think of your task as akin to a physician’s: the patient (client) comes in with a whole set of “presenting symptoms” (challenges) — it’s your job to identify the underlying disease (root issue). As with a doctor, a good root issue analysis yields insight that is actionable: actionability is crucial, since the rest of your presentation is going to focus on addressing this issue.

Note that organizations usually face multiple challenges, and for any one of these, there may be more than one root issue. But you simply don’t have time to address more than one challenge and one root issue in a short presentation. The burden is on you to “add value” – as much value as possible – for client by identifying the most critical challenge and the highest-leverage root issue. This is where your Background Briefing should prove helpful.

Identifying a root issue is often difficult – but it is immensely valuable for your client. In real life, it’s often much more valuable to your colleagues and clients to identify the right question than to find the right answer. Your diagnosis of this root issue should be argued, not just asserted, using the relevant facts of the case and whatever analytic tools seem necessary. Some of the supporting analysis may need to go into an Appendix.

Note too that sometimes the client has a strong opinion as to the nature of their real problem, and that this opinion may be reflected in the case, but you may think their analysis is not accurate: in this situation, you have to convince them that the real problem lies elsewhere. And sometimes the case describes a situation without explicitly identifying any specific challenges at all, perhaps because the client organization is doing very well – in which case, your task will be to identify the deep source of their success and a key source of vulnerability in the future, and what they could do about that.

Next, you need formulate a strategic recommendation that can address the root issue facing the client organization and thereby help it meet its challenge. You should make a clear distinction between this strategic recommendation and an implementation plan: the strategic recommendation specifies a general compass heading — the general direction they should follow to solve their problem — whereas the implementation plan specifies a detailed itinerary (see below). Your strategic recommendation should therefore not be a laundry list of things worth doing: it should define the basic direction of action that resolves the root issue.

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The analysis supporting this strategic recommendation must convince the client. The key to convincing the client is to recognize that there are lots of points of view in the client organization (and in the class) on how to solve their problem: your job is to convince us that your analysis is more plausible than the alternatives and that your recommended strategy is more likely to achieve success. The best way to do this is as follows:* To begin, you should identify two or three fundamentally different, mutually exclusive, plausible alternatives to your strategic recommendation for tackling the client’s problems. Laying out these very contrasting strategies is an excellent way to clarify for the client the range of options that might reasonably be considered. In practice, you would want to make sure that your list of alternatives includes the ones likely to be under discussion within the client organization: by explicitly addressing these options, you will be helping your client reach a reasoned consensus. (To repeat: you are looking for mutually exclusive alternatives here, not variants of the same basic idea).* Then you need to analyze the pros and cons of each alternative. The best way of making this pros/cons assessment convincing is to identify a common set of criteria against which to evaluate the alternatives. A broad range of strategic and operational factors are potentially relevant, but it is up to you to come up with a small set of key criteria. You should justify this choice of criteria: you can often do that by referring to the priorities implied by the organization’s basic mission and business strategy.* Third, you need to explain why you believe the pros/cons balance of your preferred alternative is superior to the pros/cons balance of the others. To this end, it is often useful to develop a (rough-cut) formal decision analysis, where you: (step 1) weight the common evaluation criteria (discussed in the previous paragraph) according to their relative importance in the priorities of the organization; (step 2) score each alternative on each criterion and justify these scores (usually in an Appendix); then (step 3) calculate a total weighted score for each alternative. Note: putting numbers to these weights and scores is a great way to clarify your thinking; but the numbers will not convince your client: you need to explain in more qualitative language the rationale for your conclusion, and the numbers will serve to illustrate and make more concrete your reasoning.* Finally, you should test the sensitivity of the resulting ranking to plausible alternative estimates of the weights and scores. Here is where the benefits of a formal, quantitative decision-analysis reveal themselves: first, it can show whether your preferred approach really “dominates” the alternatives, or if reasonable people using reasonable but different weights and scores would reach different conclusions. Second, if your solution is not “robust” against such disagreements, close scrutiny of the analysis will help you differentiate between the “real issues” — where disagreement would change the final conclusion — and the “non-issues” — where disagreement doesn’t matter to the final ranking. An easy way to do this is to ask: what would proponents of the other alternatives (the ones you are not recommending) argue if they were making their best case? What weights and scores would they want to use? Then you can see whether these weights or scores are plausible: this gives you a better sense of the "robustness" of your recommendation, or if further analysis (by you or the client) would be needed. This analysis should be summarized on a slide —

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but I recommend you find a way of presenting your results qualitatively, i.e. without recourse to quantified data: here too, numbers rarely convince anyone, so you should use them just (a) to clarify your own thinking and (b) to buttress the credibility of your qualitative reasoning: leave the quantitative analysis itself in an Appendix slide.

Now, having described and justified the main “compass heading” you are recommending, you can move to implementation planning. Your implementation plan should deal with the strategy’s hurdles, risks, timing, costs and benefits. Depending on the case, you may not have enough data to develop this part of your presentation in any great detail, but ideally this is what would appear in this section:* First, you should identify the likely hurdles that would face your client in pursuing your proposed strategy — and explain how your client could overcome these hurdles.* You should also identify the risks confronting your strategy — then how they can be mitigated, and if they can’t be mitigated, how the client should proceed if these risks do materialize.* Synthesizing this analysis of hurdles and risks and how to mitigate them, your implementation plan should also recommend the timing of its key steps: what needs to be done today, next week, next month, next quarter, and next year – and who should be responsible for these activities. This plan will be far more useful if you support it with some reasoning – i.e. explain why you recommend this sequencing and timing rather than another.* Finally, to convince the client that your recommendation is practical, you should consider the overall “bottom-line” – the costs as well as the benefits of your plan of action. Reports often forget this elementary consideration! It’s a nice way to wrap up the presentation.* Note: you may not have enough information to ground all the details of your implementation plan in the case data. In that eventuality, it is often helpful to work with some plausible assumptions and show us what the plan would look like. At a minimum, you will have provided the client with a template (straw-man) that they can build on.* Note too: It’s not unusual that your work on the implementation plan bring to the surface new strategic issues that you hadn’t considered. In preparing your presentation, you may well find that you need to revisit your issue-analysis and strategic-analysis and rethink your presentation.* Note finally: your implementation plan probably has many facets. It’s very useful if, alongside an overview of its main components, you dig deeper into one facet that seems to you to be particularly important. If the plan of action involves, for example, a new structure, a new compensation scheme, and a new training program, you might include a chart detailing a proposed agenda for the training program or a detailed organization chart for the new structure. In this way, you can make more concrete the implications of your plan, and show that you have anticipated some of the detailed action planning that it will require. Here too, even if you don’t have enough data to defend the specifics, at least you will be showing the client the kinds of things they should be working on.

***As concerns the oral presentation itself, here are some guidelines:

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* I will hold you to a 12 minute time-limit. This may sound draconian, but it is not unlike many real-life situations where the time accorded you to make your case is typically very short. More importantly, this time limit forces you in your preparation to get to and keep the focus on the most critical issues. * It is important to be able to present your proposal in a logically compelling and rhetorically convincing fashion. You should work to ensure that your presentation develops its arguments in a logical sequence. Your presentation materials (slides) should be clear — neither too wordy nor too sparse. (Consult the standard references on how to lay out visually intelligible and pleasing presentation slides.)* You will find it useful to prepare some Appendix slides. These might explain some of the details of your analysis, or show your analysis of some issues that are interesting but not quite important enough to include in your 12-minute presentation itself.* You should also consider including Notes pages. Your client (and your instructor!) will be reviewing your Slides after the presentation, and we may appreciate some notes to remind us of the intent/meaning of the slide. Do not simply copy your speech text into this space: the Notes pages should give us the bare minimum we need to follow the logic of your reasoning.* You need to provide students in the class with handouts that reproduce your Slides, including Appendices, at 2 per portrait page or 4 per landscape page. If you have Notes pages, please provide me with a copy of those too.* Please number your slides. This will greatly facilitate our discussion.

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Guidelines for Individual Written Case Analyses

* Integrity: These are individual assignments, and I expect you to respect USC’s corresponding Academic Integrity standards. You may discuss the assignments with colleagues, but the written work must be your own.* Content: My expectations concerning the content to be addressed in this assignment are the same as my expectations for the Team reports, except that you do not need to do the Background briefing part. In its form, your paper should be “prose” rather than “bullet points.” Note too:

It should be framed as a consulting report to a leader in the client organization. Be explicit about the identity of the client.

Do not repeat case data. Assume that I am familiar with the case as the client would be.

The “study questions” in the Session Descriptions are just ideas to get you going, not an outline of your written analysis.

* Grading: You are not graded on whether your recommendation is “right” or “wrong,” but on whether your reasoning is clear and compelling. I will also be grading your writing. Clear writing is as important to your career as clear oral expression. Make sure your writing is technically correct — spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and paragraphing — and that the logic flows clearly and compellingly. Re-write it a couple of times.           * Name: Please put your name on the back of the last page.* Word limit: The word limit is 3,000 words plus a maximum of six pages of exhibits. Please note that these are maximum limits. You should try to make your paper as concise and coherent as possible. Please show the word count at the end of paper.* Exhibits: Exhibits should be used to support your argument with information that can be presented in a table or chart (such as financial analysis, action timelines, etc.) or that would be too detailed for the body of the paper. They should not be simply an extension of the text. Do not repeat case data.* Proofreading: Please proofread your paper. It should be of the same quality that you would provide to the management of a business with which you were dealing professionally. (Note: handwritten corrections for typographical errors are acceptable in these assignments.)

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Grading Case Analyses (for both Team reports and Individual written case analyses)Each component is worth 0-4 points

Have you identified the relevant stakeholders and their concerns and interests?* Have you identified the relevant stakeholders?* Have you identified the rights, interests, and concerns of these stakeholders?

Have you identified a root issue confronting the client organization?* Have you identified an actionable root issue that underlies the “presenting symptoms” facing the client?* Have you made a compelling case that this is indeed the root issue?

 Have you argued compellingly for your preferred strategy for tackling the root issue?* Have you identified some plausible, mutually exclusive, alternative “compass headings”?* Have you analyzed these alternatives’ pros and cons?* Have you justified the evaluation criteria you use in this pros/cons analysis and the relative importance (weights) you assign to each?* Have you justified the evaluation (scores) of each alternative on each of the evaluation criteria?* Have you done a sensitivity test on this analysis to see if reasonable people would reach different results using plausibly different scores or weights? Have you used this analysis to pinpoint where the key underlying disagreements might lie?

 Does your proposed implementation plan pass the “reality test”?* Have you identified the key risks in pursuing your strategy?* Have you explained how the client should mitigate these risks?* Have you identified the internal and external hurdles facing your strategy?* Have you laid out a plan for overcoming these hurdles?* Have you tried to assess the overall costs of the plan and to compare them to its benefits?* Have you laid out a timed sequence of actions that maximizes the likelihood of success and explained why you recommend this sequence and timing?

 Is your argument well presented? * Does the argument flow in logical way? For oral presentations (Note: In grading the oral delivery part of the presentation, I will not penalize people for language difficulties when their first language is other than English:

* Is the oral presentation engaging?* Are audio-visual materials used to good effect?

For written case analyses:* is the writing technically correct (spelling, grammar, paragraphs)?* do the exhibits support the argument effectively?

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For Team Reports, the “Background briefing” will be also graded (out of 8 points maximum)* Quality of summary: does your summary capture the key points of each reading discussed?* Insightful contrast: does your briefing bring out the key points of contrast between perspectives on the topic at hand?

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Peer Evaluation Form

Please use the following scale to rate your team members and yourself:F: Seriously deficientC: WeakB. Good A. Excellent

Please use the back of the form to provide any supporting narrative that would help illustrate notable strengths or weaknesses and that would justify an unusually high or low evaluation.

Team member (TM) name (you are team member #1):TM1: <your name> TM2: TM3: TM4:

Evaluations:

Preparation: Rate the extent to which the member completed the necessary assignments, had read the related material, and was ready to contribute to the team. Ratings for each team member:TM1: TM2: TM3: TM4:

Input: Rate the extent to which the member provided valuable input of ideas towards the team’s work. Ratings for each team member:TM1: TM2: TM3: TM4:

Diligence: Rate the extent to which the member took on the necessary roles to complete the team’s work, their timeliness in completing and distributing work, and the quality of the work performed. Ratings for each team member:TM1: TM2: TM3: TM4:

Facilitation: Rate the extent to which the member helped the team maintain a positive climate and work together effectively. Ratings for each team member:TM1: TM2: TM3: TM4:

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Grading engagement

Class engagement has three components: in-class contributions to discussions, and pre- and post-class postings on Blackboard. Here is how I will grade them:In-Class Engagement:

Your in-class engagement constitutes a crucial learning mechanism, and therefore a significant portion of your final grade. I will use the following “anchors” as a way of evaluating your contribution to our discussions. I will also give you an opportunity to evaluate yourself using the same criteria:

A:Excellent - Contributions reflected exceptional preparation and an enthusiastic commitment to our learning experience. Had always read the assigned material and had thought about it carefully. Embraced the opportunity to learn in our time together, brought out the best in others, and was open to subsequent conversations. Brought up questions that need to be further explored. Added considerably to the quality of the course experience for others.

B:Good - Contributions reflected an adequate preparation for class and commitment to our learning experience. Comments helped the discussion move forward, but did not open new topics or pose difficult issues. Had read the material before class and given it some thought. Took advantage of the learning opportunities presented here. Added something to the quality of the course experience.

C:Barely satisfactory – Attempted to contribute occasionally, but contributions often reflected either weak preparation or an apathetic orientation to the learning opportunities presented here. Comments did not build on or relate to flow of class discussion. Had read the material, but without much effort to engage it. On balance, added nothing to the experience of the class.

Pre-class postings to Blackboard: “Discussion Issues”When you come into class, I expect you to have reflected on the materials

– analyzed the case under discussion, considered it in light of the assigned readings, and reflected on the Session Description’s “study questions.” This reflection should lead you to identify at least one issue that you see as central to that class’s upcoming discussion – I call that your “discussion issue” (DI). Starting with the week of Jan 25, students are asked to formulate a DI on each week’s case and readings, and post their DI on Blackboard by Sunday 8:00pm.

I will grade each DI with a letter grade, and with an F if no question is submitted in time. There are four criteria in grading these DIs:

Coverage -- Most basically, the DIs should be informed by the readings and the case. The best DIs reflect that. Not-so-good DIs focus on just one reading, or just a small piece of one reading. Weak DIs are ones that have no discernable relationship to the readings at all.Insight – The best DIs reveal a non-obvious connection, an inconsistency, or a puzzle of some kind.

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Connections – The best DIs bring in additional support, referring to prior discussions in the course, as well as to materials outside the course -- other readings, films, lectures, and life experiences. Point of View – The best DIs reveal a clear, compelling, and even provocative point of view. By clarifying a point of view, the author pulls all of the previous pieces together and gives us something to think about. Of course, a point of view goes well beyond “I like this” or “I don’t like that.”

After-class postings to Blackboard: “Take-aways”Shortly after each class, and starting with the class of Jan 13, you should

take some time to distill the key take-away lessons (TAs). Students should post a short TA note (5-15 lines, or longer if want) on our Blackboard Discussion space by 8pm of the night before the following class session. These might also include responses to other postings already on the Discussion space. The criteria for grading these are the same as for the DIs at the top level but different in the detail:

Coverage – The best TAs cover all the key themes that emerged during the discussion. Weaker TAs focus on just a subset.Insight – Weak TAs list the topics we addressed; the best TAs pinpoint the lessons learned about those topics. The best TAs suggest new questions that are raised by these lessons.Connections – The best TAs link the lessons of this discussion to others earlier in the course. Weaker TAs don’t make such connections.Point of View – The best TAs reveal how the discussion has enriched your own thinking. Weaker TAs lack that personal engagement, or simply reiterate a pre-formed personal opinion.

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